Hope After All
by Gentlefurable
Summary: One shot based off Tumblr prompt: set before they are together Pepper falls asleep on the couch, out come up to writer. Pretty much self explanatory, some fluff. No lemons, sorry! CHAP 2 UP NOW
1. Chapter 1

**Prompt:** (set before they are together) Pepper falls asleep on the couch, out come up to writer

**A.N. **Hey Guys, so I recently found this absolutely amazing website on Tumblr [ ] and I am going to attempt to do some. If any of you have read my other Iron Man fic, I have actually started to write the next chapter, it's just gotten away from me. I'm not too sure about my other stories but I'll see if I get around to them. As you may have noticed I'm much better at one-shots. Anyways, Please R&R! And Enjoy!

Tony Stark was tired. He was tired and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep until Pepper came to wake him at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning. As he made his way up the stairs his hand went unconsciously to the arc reactor in the centre of his chest. His fingers traced the rim as he thought about the last couple of months. Kidnapped, tortured, and betrayed by a father figure… no wonder he was tired! He sighed, as he reached the top of his stairs that lead into his living room. He wondered if Pepper was still here, she practically lived her anyways. She was always here when he needed her, and even when he didn't. He'd been so bad to her too, for years he's used her as a slave. Making her do whatever he wanted, having her get rid of women in the morning, and taking care of the press when he's done something stupid. It made him wonder why she had stuck around for as long as she had.

The sound of soft snoring brought him out of his thoughts and turned his head towards the couch. A slow grin spread its way across his face. The ever infamous Pepper Potts was sleeping, and not on that, she was sleeping in his living room. On his _Couch_. He watched her for a moment, not sure what he should do. Waking her wasn't an option but neither was letting her sleep on his couch. He quietly made his was over to the couch, settling on the chair next to the couch and leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. She was beautiful when she was sleeping; her whole body seemed to relax. It gave him time to really look at her, to study her features even though he had done so many times before. He would never admit it, but he absolutely loved her freckles. He thought they were beyond adorable. They stood out when she blushed and made her sexy as hell. He loved the way she bit her lip and tilted her head down when she was nervous, and how she believed that he forgot her birthday every year when really it was top on his calendar.

He loved the way she was always there for him on the anniversary of his parents' death, even though it was not obligatory. He loved when her hair was tied back in a bun and a stray curl would fall out and have to be tucked behind her ear. He loved her arms and her hands and how they looked touchable and he wondered if her hands would fit in his like he imagined they would. He loved her eyes, the beautiful brown colour that showed so much yet hid so much more. He loved Pepper Potts. The thought made him still. Did he? Could he? Could he really do that to her? She had seen so much of him, too much of him. She stood by his side for years as he reaped the benefits of death and destruction, and she was still standing next to him. He looked again to her sleeping form on the couch, watching her for a moment before he got a blanket to cover her with. He refused to let her sleep on the couch and knowing Pepper, as soon as the blanket touched her she would be awake and alert, all business.

He gently laid the blanket over her and to his surprise, she didn't jolt awake like he expected her to, she awoke slowly. He watched her blink awake, not realizing where she was and yawn.

"Sleepin' on the job Potts?" He drawled a smirk on his lips.

He laughed when Pepper finally got with the program and sat up abruptly, trying to make herself look presentable. Or professional at the least.

"Wasn't sleeping." She mumbled.

"What was that Potts? Didn't quite catch that." He was making her blush and enjoying every minute of it.

"I wasn't sleeping!" She was frustrated and he knew it.

"Whatever you say Pepper. You snore by the way."

"I do not!"

"Do too"

"Do not!"

"Do too, do too, do too!"

"Tony…"

"Pepper."

"Ugh!"

"I win."

"Tony! I am going to kill you one of these days if you're not careful."

Tony chuckled as he watched Pepper become more and more flustered. Deciding to end the banter he settled down on the couch next to her. "I don't mind you sleeping here you know Pepper. I mean, I have so many spare rooms you may as well become privy to one. If only on a once in a while basis."

He watched her slowly think over the proposition; he could tell she was thinking of a way out. His poor professional Pepper didn't know what to make of the invitation and probably felt it inappropriate.

"I don't know Tony… what would people say if they found out that I had a room here?"

"How would anyone know?"

"Because it's you! Tony. You're infamous with women and I don't want to be a part of that. I don't want people to see me as a notch on your bedpost."

That made a frown spread over his face. He guessed he deserved it; it wasn't exactly like it was uncalled for. The whole world knew what he was like with women, and he couldn't blame her for having the concerns that she did. While he was thinking he felt the weight on the couch shift and he looked up to see Pepper getting all her things as she prepared to leave.

"I'm sorry Tony; I just don't think it's a good idea. Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

He grinned, "That will be all, Ms. Potts."

He watched as Pepper reached the door on the far side of the room before he called out to her.

"Pepper?"

"Yes Tony?"

He smiled and he couldn't help but feel the sadness behind it, "If we did ever… you know. You wouldn't be just another notch. You could never be, just another anything."

Tony felt his heart lift a little when she returned his smile before she slipped out the door into the night air. Maybe there was hope after all.

**A.N. **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! I don't mind criticism, especially as I'm prone to typos when I'm typing. If you want to leave a prompt, I would love to do more one shots! Have an awesome day/night!


	2. Chapter 2

**Prompt:** Pepper and Tony go outside with sparklers for the 4th of July

**A.N. ** Hey Guys! Wow, thanks for all the reviews! You guys are amazing, seriously. Anyways time to do another prompt. Now, you're going to have to bear with me because I'm Canadian so I'm not so sure about the 4th of July traditions. Nevertheless, I'm going to take a shot at it. As always, please enjoy and if you do so please review

Pepper Potts had, for once in what seemed like forever, a reason to be excited for her day at work to end. Today was July 4th; Independence Day. And although she should have got the day off work she had nothing better to do and there was always some mess to clean up at Stark Industries. She glanced at the clock and sighed lightly, she still had a couple of hours to go before she could leave. She'd made plans with some friends to go out and have drinks, a luxury she couldn't always afford. It would feel good to get to relax for a bit seeing as she never got the chance to do so during the normal work week.

She jumped when she heard an explosion from downstairs. She rolled her eyes and with a muttered 'Tony' under her breath she made her way to his workshop. Punching in the code to unlock the door she was greeted with smoke ad broken glass that crunched under her red high heels.

"Tony?"

She heard a muffled response and walked further into the destruction zone to see what exactly had happened. Why were the lights so dim?

"Jarvis, can I get some more light in here please?"

"As you wish, Ms. Potts."

As more and more light entered the room Pepper couldn't help but shake her head. Tony had done some dumb things in the time that she'd worked for him, but this was definitely in the top twenty if not the top ten. She could see him now, standing at one of his many lab benches. Whatever had caused the explosion had caused his hair to stand on end and there was a yellow liquid on the bench and on the floor surrounding the bench.

"Tony... what happened?"

She had to cover a grin when he looked up at her, a stupid grin plastered on his face as he held up the vial.

"Sparklers Potts."

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Tony, I don't know what that means. What's the yellow stuff?"

Tony put the vial down and walked around the bench, "I was trying to make an improvement on the chemical compound they use to make sparklers. You know, make it burn longer and with different colours."

"And it exploded?"

He nodded, "Yes, it exploded."

Pepper shook her head in light exasperation, only Tony would do such a thing. And for sparklers? It seemed like a fruitless pursuit for something that usually only lasted for five minutes and that people only used a couple of times a year.

"Why were you trying to make sparklers? They cost like 10 bucks at the store. It's not like you can't afford them."

Tony watched her for a moment before walking around the bench with one of his sparklers, Pepper watched in fascination set it on fire and it burned a brilliant green.

"See Pepper? It's better than anything you can find at Target."

Pepper watched as he made circles with the thing. The green colour switching to a red part way through before finally burning out.

"Well Tony, please just no more explosions."

"Dully noted Potts. See you in a few and we'll test them out?"

Pepper bit her lip and shook her head. "I can't Tony… I have plans for tonight."

Tony frowned, "You know I don't like it when you have plans."

She grinned, "I'm allowed to have plans since technically I get the day off."

Tony rolled his eyes and grinned and Pepper couldn't help but feel that he was thinking up something mischievous. Then again, when wasn't he? He may have turned a new leaf in his life but deep down he was still the same Tony Stark.

"Cancel them, We can get a couple of beers—"

"Tony I can't just cancel on my friends."

"—Go outside after dark and have an awesome time."

"Tony…."

Tony grinned and handed Pepper the burnt out sparkler, "Good. Alright, just hang around for a bit and I'll come and get you after I'm done.

Pepper rolled her eyes as she accepted the sparkler. "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

"That will be all Ms. Potts."

Pepper hid a grin as she turned on her heel and re-walked over the broken glass to get back up the stairs. It wouldn't be that hard to cancel on her friends, most of them teased her relentless about Tony so they would do nothing but egg her on if she told them she was spending the 4th of July with them.

The next couple of hours went by relatively quickly and Pepper managed to get some work done despite the three more explosions that took place in Tony's as he continued on his mission to make the perfect and most elaborate sparkler. Each time she would go down to check on him just to make sure he hadn't seriously injured himself or anything else.

The next time Pepper looked up Tony was standing in the door with a grin plastered on his face. She couldn't help but notice that he had changed out of his grease covered clothes into something more casual. Pepper always swore that casual was sexy, and that was very true with Tony Stark. The man could certainly pull off jeans and a tee, especially with his ever present tan.

"Ready for this Potts?"

She smirked at his arched eyebrow, "This better be good. I had to cancel on my friends for this."

She heard him laugh as she followed him into the kitchen where he tossed a cooler over his shoulder. "I have beer. Trust me on this one Potts, when have I let you down?"

It was now Pepper's turn to raise an eyebrow and watch as Tong grinned sheepishly as he took her elbow leading outside. Although Pepper didn't see the need for overly big houses, the view was worth every penny. Especially after the sun had set. Even though sunsets were beautiful, after the sun set the ocean just mirrored the moon and the calm was something that Pepper cherished. She allowed Tony to lead her to a small alcove before he set everything down. He handed her a beer and he sat himself, taking a swig from the bottle. She followed his example, as she took her own drink.

After a few minutes of silence she saw Tony pull out a sparkler out of the corner of her eye.

"It's not going to explode is it?"

He grinned as he lit it and handed it to her, the purple colour bright and demanding. She accepted it from him and watched as he lit another one, the gold colour reminiscent of the colour on the Iron Man suit.

"Come on Pepper, let's see what you can do."

She blinked at him when he stood and offered his hand, the sparkler swinging lightly in the other one. Taking his hand she got to her feet and swung the sparkler though the air, grinning at the purple line that trailed in the night sky. She got lost in the colour watching it cut through the darkness of the sky. She looked over at Tony when she heard him chuckled and gave him a quizzical look.

"What?"

He shrugged, "You just look so… captivated."

Pepper rolled her eyes, "Tony you're seeing things…" Her voice dropped off as she watched the colour change from purple to a colour that resembled maroon.

"Cool isn't it? Took me a long time to get that to work…. Hey Pepper, draw your signature."

She gave him and incredulous look, "What?"

Tony grinned and drew his signature with the sparkler. The "Tony Stark" remaining visible for a couple of seconds before disappearing. Shrugging, Pepper did the same, her own signature doing the same spark and fizzle routine. Before should could stop herself she was drawing more things in the sky. Hearts, stars, circles, squares, anything that came to mind as the colour of the sparkler continued to mesmerize her. She could see Tony grinning out of the corner of her eye, his own sparkler making circles lazily as he paid more attention to her than to it. Pepper couldn't help but frown when her sparkler popped and the colour slowly faded until all that was left was darkness.

Before her eyes could adjust to the darkness Tony had handed her another one, this one a vibrant orange colour which she accepted eagerly.

She smiled, "Thank you, Tony."

"No problem, happy 4th of July."

**A.N. **Hurray for another one done! I actually enjoyed this one and it got away from be a bit which is why it's longer than the last one. Then I panicked because I thought it was going to be too long. Ahh, the joys of writing. Anyways! I hope you liked it, and if you did please leave a review on the way out! :D


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